


True Detective Season 2 Trailer

by cygnes



Category: True Detective
Genre: Gen, wild speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2014-06-22
Packaged: 2018-02-05 17:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1825828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cygnes/pseuds/cygnes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Earlier this year, I planned to make a fake trailer for season 2 of True Detective based on Nic Pizzolatto's quote about his plans for the upcoming season: involving "hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system."</p>
<p>I didn't end up getting to film the fake trailer, but I still think the script is interesting enough to share.</p>
            </blockquote>





	True Detective Season 2 Trailer

**Author's Note:**

> I'm aware that screenplays generally do not have camera angles or shots described in such detail, but I was planning to direct the fake trailer myself, so it seemed natural to put them in. Hopefully it will also help with visualization in the current circumstances.
> 
> You can, of course, imagine any actors that strike your fancy in these roles. But if I had my pick in Hollywood, I'd probably cast Hettienne Park as Jules, Kevin Spacey as Henry, America Ferrera as Mariana, and Brendan Hines as Llewelyn.

TRUE DETECTIVE: SEASON 2 TRAILER

 

_About one second of black screen, during which we hear three sharp raps—perhaps the sound of knocking on a door._

_First shot immediately following: a young woman on the other side of a screen door. She is in her early twenties, dressed casually but neatly. This is JULES FITCHER._

JULES  
Hi. Mr. Talbot?

_Reverse shot (still with the screen door as a barrier) of a middle-aged balding man with glasses—probably in his late 50s. He is dressed casually and a bit less neatly. This is HENRY TALBOT._

HENRY  
Yeah?

_Shot from several feet behind Jules, angled a little bit over her left shoulder._

JULES  
I’m Jules Fitcher. We talked on the phone.

HENRY  
Oh, yeah. The interview. Come on in.

_We see the door open, and Jules enters._

_Cut to an empty dining room with a table and chairs. Henry enters, followed by Jules. They sit across from one another, leaving the chair at the head of the table empty. Jules takes a dictaphone out of her bag._

JULES  
Do you mind if I record this?

HENRY  
Not at all. Go ahead.

_Close-up of Jules pressing record._

_Back to a wider shot of the dining room, this time from the other end of the room (so that they are now on the opposite side of the image as compared to the previous shot of them in the dining room, without having moved)._

JULES  
(to the recorder)  
March 30, 2000. Interview with Henry Talbot.  
(to Henry)  
Mr. Talbot, I understand that you worked for the transport  
authority in the 1970s when the light rail system was being  
renovated.

_Close-up of Jules’ face. She is intent, focused._

_Reverse shot close-up of Henry’s face. He is wary, closed-off._

_Instrumental music (TBD) starts, moving to a shot of bare-branched trees—is it late autumn or early spring? Montage through several shots (building façades with no people in front of them, cracked sidewalks, etc)._

_We finally settle on a woman in her mid-thirties, smartly and professionally dressed in a tailored pantsuit. This is MARIANA VARGAS. She taps a smartphone screen and answers a call. The music ends as she begins to speak._

MARIANA  
(to phone)  
Jules, we haven’t spoken since—right. So what do you expect  
from me?

_Cut to Mariana and Jules, sitting in a café. This shot is from over Mariana’s shoulder (we can see part of her shoulder/neck/hair in the frame). Jules is also in her mid-thirties now. She is worn down, but still focused and intent._

JULES  
It’s not paranoia if I’m right.

_Cut to Mariana—young, in her early twenties, like the first time we saw Jules. We see a familiar intensity about her, ungrounded by her current cynicism._

JULES  
(voiceover, continuing to speak)  
You remember that thing we looked into?

_Pan down to (young) Mariana’s hands: an envelope with her name on it. No return address. Cut to a close-up of the envelope as she opens it._

MARIANA  
(voiceover, responding)  
We looked into a lot of things, back in the day.

_Music cue: opening instrumental bars of “Lose Your Soul” by Dead Men’s Bones. Cut to a medium shot of a young man—lanky, disinterested, maybe a little bit shifty—leaning against a brick wall. Shot has him in three-quarter profile, looking into the distance. He holds a Polaroid camera. This is LLEWELYN BANES._

_Cut to (young) Jules in a library at a microfiche viewer, shot from behind and above. Cut to a shot of what she’s looking at: an article about disappearances in the 1970s. Then earlier—1950s, 1920s. Highway construction, metro renovation. Cut to a close-up of Jules’ face._

_Cut to (young) Mariana descending some rickety stairs. Then a shot from behind her as she enters a creepy basement. She opens the door to what appears to be a built-in wire cage. A shot from inside as she enters. She moves toward one of the wood beams, taking out a metal zippo lighter and lighting it._

_Close-up of the lighter, her hand, the beam—on which we can read the words ‘INFERNAL MACHINES.’_

_Music stops as we cut to (young) Jules slamming Llewelyn against a wall._

JULES  
What the fuck are you involved in?

LLEWELYN  
What?

JULES  
The pictures, you goddamn psycho.

_Cut to (young) Mariana holding the envelope in one hand and a stack of polaroids in the other. She looks horrified. She drops the envelope and brings up one hand to cover her mouth._

_Cut back to Jules and Llewelyn, this time a somewhat tighter shot. ___

____

LLEWELYN  
I don’t know what you’re talking about!

_Cut to a shot of a hand (older Jules’) curled around a mug of coffee. We’re back in the present._

MARIANA  
We were just kids, Jules. Didn’t know a goddamn thing.

JULES  
We’re not kids anymore—

_Cut to a shot of Mariana over Jules’ shoulder, paralleling the first café shot from the other side. Mariana looks incredulous._

JULES  
(continued)  
—and that shit’s still out there. Look at us now: you’re a federal  
investigator, and I’m—

MARIANA  
You’re what, exactly?

_Cut to Jules, alone, at a table with her laptop and the polaroids fanned out around her._

JULES  
(voiceover, responding)  
We can’t all be success stories.

_Jules picks up one of the photos and turns it over. Close-up shot of her hand, the photo—similar framing to the shot of young Mariana in the basement. The words “la belle dame sans merci” are visible and legible, handwritten._

_Cut back to the café (mid-distance shot with both of them fully visible, together in the frame for the first time). Jules stands up, takes out her wallet, puts a couple of bills on the table._

JULES  
You don’t want to do it for me, do it for Llewelyn.

_Music cue (TBD). Montage. Cut to: Mariana alone in her apartment. Jules at a bar. Mariana drinking at home. Jules in bed—not alone, but we don’t get a good look at who else is there._

_Cut to a shot of Mariana in an office. She opens a file—cut to above, so we can see the contents. It’s about the disappearance of Llewelyn Banes, with a picture of the young man we saw earlier._

LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI  
(voiceover—a voice we have not heard up to this point)  
The main difference between men and women is what happens  
when you put them through the grinder.

_Shot of Jules, surrounded by transit maps._

LA BELLE DAME  
(continued)  
Men, often as not—they go all the way to bad. If they don’t just  
break.

_Shot of Henry Talbot sitting in an armchair, in profile. Shot of (young) Llewelyn stripping off a pair of latex gloves._

LA BELLE DAME  
(continued)  
But most women get hard.

_Shot of (young) Jules walking down a hallway, toward the camera._

_Shot of (older) Jules wrapping her hands, as if for a fight._

LA BELLE DAME  
(continued)  
It’s something society creates. Women, we get hurt younger. More  
often. We have to get good at putting ourselves back together,  
stronger.

_Shot of (young) Mariana in a small bathroom, dry-swallowing aspirin and splashing her face with cold water from the sink._

_Shot of (older) Mariana driving at night (from the perspective of the passenger seat)._

LA BELLE DAME  
(continued)  
The deck’s stacked against us from the start.

_Shot of (older) Jules entering a metro station at street level._

_Shot of (older) Mariana waiting for a train. It stops, and we see her face reflected in a window (or door)._

_TRUE DETECTIVE title card._


End file.
